1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a spool for winding an elongate flexible member and, more particularly, to a foldable spool from which the coiled flexible member can be readily removed after winding.
2. History of the Prior Art
In daily life, it is frequently necessary to use elongate flexible members such as electrical cords, ski ropes, garden hoses, yarn, and dog leashes. In dealing with such structures, it is very awkward and inconvenient to store, transport or use the entirety of a long flexible member without having the strands tangle up. In particular, the storage of unwound flexible member takes up a large amount of space and creates a hazard. To cope with this storage problem, different kinds of spools have been used to wi nd the flexible member into a coil. However, once it is wound up onto a reel for storage, it is also difficult and time consuming to unwind and remove the flexible member from the spool in order to use that flexible member. Thus, the alternate use and storage of the flexible member requires repeated unreeling and reeling. This consumes a large amount of time and is also inconvenient to the user
In an effort to cope with problems encountered with the storage of elongated flexible members on conventional reels, prior art solutions have proposed multi-element articulatable reels which either collapse, fold or have a separable end piece allowing the removal of coiled flexible members after winding. Problems inherent with these devices are that they are complicated, expensive to manufacture, difficult to release the wound flexible member, and most are not portable. For example U.S. Pat. No. 410,405 to Epple discloses a multi-part foldable reel which is collapsible and requires a spring means to hold the reel apart and to attach it to a stationary base. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,382,968 to Berman discloses an adjustable reel and collapsible support. However, both the Epple and the Berman devices are complicated and difficult to use. U.S. Pat. No. 2,057,728 to lester discloses a clamp mounted yarn reel with four arms which are foldable with respect to one another. Each of the Epple, Berman and Lester devices are designed for semi-permanent mounting and are not truly portable, thus limiting their utility for convenient stand storage. U.S. Design Pat. No. 264,806 to Russell shows a one piece coil winder which is readily portable but it is very difficult to remove the wound member for reuse after winding.
The devices disclosed in each of the prior art patents are either multi-component, difficult to use or not readily portable. The present invention overcomes many of the prior art problems as discussed above.